Council suggests killing cats in off-the-rails meeting

Commentary corner

SHARON LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY 

For anyone who missed the October 7th Columbia Borough Council work session, here are some interesting highlights:

The meeting began with seven organizations each requesting a donation from the borough.

There was a five-minute time frame allotted for them to tell council about their organization and why they were requesting a donation. A large timer was positioned on the council table, but was, for the most part, ignored.

The allotted time frame went out of control almost immediately, and what should have been a total of 35 minutes turned into nearly 120 minutes. The first two hours of this meeting were mismanaged, as is often the case.

Last year, the total amount of donations was estimated to be $29,000. That is not an outrageous number. If our tax dollars were being properly managed, there would be no problem meeting that number again this year or even exceeding it slightly. All of these community organizations deserve to have financial help from the borough for services they provide.

Two flags at Borough Hall cost $1,000!

Council members sat for an hour and a half discussing a $1,000 here, $3,000 there. And I'll go back to this again: Who made the decision to purchase two flags that cost over $1,000 to hang in the side of the building? Not United States flags, but "Columbia" flags that are not doing one thing for this community. NOTHING.

It became clear that some council members did not prepare properly for the discussion. They wanted to argue over donations when they were lacking in facts and even making things up. If you were trying to listen to the discussion on the livestream, it was extremely difficult at times because members were talking over each other. The gavel could have been used to reel everyone in and bring the conversation under control, but it wasn't touched.

CCAT

The Columbia Cat Action Team (CCAT) discussion was flabbergasting. Some council members suggested forms of cat control that could be considered inhumane.

Council Vice President Eric Kauffman made contradictory statements, first saying the cat population will be controlled by public traffic. In other words, cats would become roadkill. He also mentioned disease and hunger as possible control factors. But minutes later, Kauffman said if the team misses trapping a male and female, they fall four months behind, contradicting his theory that traffic, hunger and disease can control the population.

Then, Councilman Todd Burgard said he was always a proponent of a mixed approach which would include "extermination." He said, it should be part of the process. Otherwise, he explained, you would have to trap all the cats in one day.

Council candidate Jesse Rabinowitz, who was seated at the table with council members, said he'd drop CCAT and give that money to the library. Councilwoman Barb Fisher agreed. Rabinowitz also mentioned that hawks could help control the cat population.

Council President Zink stated that "It's time to let it go," referring to the donation for the organization.

Facilities used for actual surgery were discussed, but it was clear some council members did not have an understanding of how the process works. The York SPCA was used in the beginning of the program, because there was inconsistent veterinary availability at the Columbia shelter. For a while they could not provide TNR services. The trip to York was done by volunteers using their own time and gas. (The drive takes about 25 minutes one-way.) The York County SPCA was gracious enough to accommodate CCAT.

Apparently, Columbia would rather be known for rabies and roadkill instead of a community program which has set an example for other municipalities.

If you wish to address council on this or any other topic, meeting dates for October are as follows:

October 14th at 7:00 pm council meeting

October 16th at 7:00 pm budget meeting

October 28th at 7:00 pm council meeting

If your topic is not listed on the agenda, simply sign in as you enter the lobby and you can speak during citizen comments at the beginning of the meeting. You have 5 minutes to speak.

If the topic is listed on the agenda, you will have to wait until council gets to that topic during the meeting, and then you can raise your hand to speak or comment.

Either way, you can speak at any of these meetings. The taxes you pay go, in part, to fund this program.